On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 13:59, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote:
> [but how could have Costa Rica have abolished its armed forces? I'd > guess it happened because of (1) the weakness of class inequalities > and antagonisms and (2) the strength of a social-democratic movement > there.] > I just came from Costa Rica and found it a really interesting place. The people there also have full health care coverage provided by the government and, unlike many Latin American countries, you can usually drink the water straight from the tap (though I was only in hotels and urban areas--evidently there is still a lot of non-potable water in the rural areas). Not sure about the history of the political situation there, but after a long set of discussions about race on the LBO list, I was struck by one other detail about its history, which is that the indigenous population was basically wiped out--something like 99% of them being killed off in the first few decades after contact in the 1500s. I'm sure at some point they imported slaves, etc. but I can't help but speculate (and hope to do more research) on what this did for the rise of social democracy there--i.e. hard to do the whole divide and rule along class lines when you can't use race as a division among the working classes. I don't know the stats (unfortunately, I was there purely for leisure--as per my partner's request, our 10th anniversary, etc.) but there seems to be a lot less visible poverty compared to other Latin American countries I've visited. Anyone have any good recommendations on reading for this? s
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